Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

I'm a long term winner at small stakes NLHE (not so much in the recent short term, but that's not relevant) and have repeatedly tried and failed to beat micro stakes LHE (small sample, but it does have a z-score of about -2) because I think that I would be a better poker player for it and it keeps my options open. I recently read SSHE and tried again without success, maybe there's something enlightening in these hands? (No reads, there's no telling what goes through these players' minds, if anything. Of course the same can probably be said of me in this game.)

Full Tilt Poker, $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO posts
Pre-Flop: K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] dealt to Hero (BB)
4 folds, CO checks, BTN folds, SB calls, <font color="red">Hero raises</font>, CO calls, SB calls

Flop: (6 SB) J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (3 Players)
SB checks, <font color="red">Hero bets</font>, <font color="red">CO raises</font>, SB folds, <font color="red">Hero 3-bets</font>, CO calls

Turn: (6 BB) J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 Players)
Hero checks, <font color="red">CO bets</font>, Hero calls

River: (8 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 Players)
Hero checks, <font color="red">CO bets</font>, Hero calls

Full Tilt Poker, $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Pre-Flop: Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] dealt to Hero (MP2)
4 folds, <font color="red">Hero raises</font>, 2 folds, SB calls, BB calls

Flop: (6 SB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, <font color="red">Hero bets</font>, SB calls, BB calls

Turn: (4.5 BB) 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (3 Players)
SB checks, <font color="red">BB bets</font>, Hero calls, SB calls

River: (7.5 BB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, <font color="red">Hero bets</font>, SB folds, BB calls

Re: Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

Hand 1: Lead the turn after 3betting the flop.

Hand 2: Looks good. Nice hand. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

Hand 1 i bet/fold turn
hand 2 I play it the same.. cant see them checking three nines on the river, so value bet it.

Re: Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

Maybe I'm paranoid about being exploited, but isn't bet-folding the turn in hand 1, really, really bad if your opponent knows you do this? What do you bet-call?

Re: Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

This is where a read is important. If your opponent loves raising scare cards, you should call down. If your opponent tends not to raise lightly on scare cards, fold. Start paying attention to how your opponents play and developing these reads. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe I'm paranoid about being exploited, but isn't bet-folding the turn in hand 1, really, really bad if your opponent knows you do this? What do you bet-call?

[/ QUOTE ]

i think im only calling down if villain is a maniac.. no real draws on board, and it looks like I have A-J.. would be a pretty sick bluff I think
there are a lot of maniacs at micros though [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Re: Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

The thing is that there are actually more combinations for overpairs alone (never mind anything else that you might've played the same way) than for AJ,JJ, AJ,KJs,JJ or even AJ,KJ,JJ, never mind anything else you could have that you're folding like AK. If you're folding without a jack in your hand there's nothing sick about a bluff raise here, it's automatic (2BB to win 7, takes down the pot immediately more than half the time).

Re: Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

Meh. No Limit is an entirely different game that just shares most of the rules of limit. Don't expect quick results or success at one to carry over to the other.

Re: Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

Well, let's see, the likeliest thing that happened in both of these hands is that someone flopped a worthwhile hand and caught his outs against your overpair. I've been a winning low-limit hold'em player for going on two years now and I don't know how to stop that from happening. That's the drawback of limit. The bonus is that the times they don't catch, they will pay off every street whereas in NL, Villains will usually find a fold somewhere.

If you're not a winning player in LHE, these two hands are not the reason. You played them basically perfectly.

Re: Why can\'t I beat micro LHE? (Two FR hands)
 

Bet/folding the turn in Hand 1 is bad. Actually, given the board I like the check/call to showdown line.

There's a fairly recent thread in Small Stakes about when to employ the "free showdown" raise in LHE, and particularly about when to employ it even when we have to call a 3bet. Hand 2 looks like the perfect example of that concept.

In answer to the broader question, LHE is a much higher variance game than NL. This is counter-intuitive to many people, because we all tend to focus too much on the short-term...in a single hand, or even session, NL can be &amp; often is highly volatile. But over the longer run, the effects of LHE (namely often not being able to price opponents out of the pot &amp; just as often being forced to chase draws of your own) conspire to create a very high variance game. Many, many great players on these forums have suffered through downswings that lasted into the months, 30k hands or more. So what I'm saying is not to get too discouraged over what you admit is a small sample size--keep playing solid poker &amp; you'll start seeing profits. These hands both show that you've got the basic concepts of this game down, and at these stakes that, and maybe a little table selection, are all you really need to win.